A PSYCHIATRIC patient with “paranoid delusional beliefs” and a history of violence killed a stranger who offered him a place to stay within hours of being released from prison without any accommodation or support package in place, an investigation has found.

Stuart Quinn was jailed for a minimum of 18 years after he pleaded guilty to murdering 56-year-old “good Samaritan” and father Alan Geddes, following a chance meeting in a lap-dancing club in Aberdeen in December 2019.

The circumstances leading up to the fatal stabbing have been evaluated by the Mental Welfare Commission (MWC) for Scotland, which highlighted a number of lapses in care including a “lack of consistency in senior medical staffing” due to recruitment difficulties.

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Quinn - who is identified only as Mr TU in the anonymised MWC report - was 32 when he began experiencing symptoms of drug-induced psychosis linked to an escalating use of cocaine, alcohol, and anabolic steroids.

He was also believed to be suffering from PTSD as a result of “traumatic events” he had experienced during a holiday in 2017.

In March 2018, he was taken to hospital by police who found him “brandishing a snow shovel” in the street. The MWC report notes that he was considered for transfer to the intensive psychiatric unit “but there were no beds”.

Days later Quinn was re-admitted to hospital after police found him outside his home armed with a baseball bat.

He had been “punching holes in the walls of his flat believing that there were people in the pipes”.

A third admission followed within 24 hours of discharge, after police again found him “delusional about intruders in his flat”.

He was detained under the Mental Health Act in hospital for a fourth time, in April 2018, after he “entered a neighbour’s flat armed with a screwdriver”.

The MWC report noted that Quinn “admitted the frequent use of cocaine” and that concerns were documented at the time over “the ‘imminent and tangible’ risk of violence and how this could be managed if he continued to use cocaine in the community”.

However, the NHS subsequently “lost contact” with Quinn, who had no fixed abode and failed to turn up for two follow-up appointments.

He was subsequently arrested in June 2018 for carrying a knife in a public place while intoxicated, and again in October for assault outside a bar.

In November, he was arrested on a third occasion for breach of the peace, resisting arrest, and assault on bar door staff.

In January 2019, Quinn was admitted to hospital from prison to establish whether he had an “underlying psychotic illness”such as schizophrenia, but this was eventually ruled out.

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Quinn was “advised about the risks associated with continuing to use illicit drugs”, and was later released from prison in May 2019.

However, he was admitted to hospital the following day after getting drunk, taking cocaine, and being attacked during a fight in a pub.

Quinn was transferred to a psychiatric hospital “due to concerns about thoughts he was expressing about harming both himself and the person who had assaulted him”.

He was arrested again later the same month and returned to prison, where he remained until a brief release in September 2019.

The MWC report notes that, on this occasion, Quinn “was liberated with a comprehensive support package and with arranged homeless accommodation, however he was involved in a fight after drinking alcohol on the day of his release, was re-arrested and returned to prison the next day”.

On December 6 2019, Quinn appeared in court in Aberdeen. He was expected to remain in prison but was unexpectedly released.

The MWC report noted that, on returning to prison to collect his belongings and medication, Quinn was said to be “distressed by the decision to release him from custody which had not been anticipated nor planned for”.

It added: “Mr TU subsequently reported that he had spent some time walking around the city centre and at some point, was offered and consumed cocaine.

"He went to a club where he met the victim, previously a stranger to him.

“Subsequently, having apparently failed to secure overnight accommodation elsewhere for Mr TU, they went to the victim’s house where the homicide occurred.”

Mr Geddes, a former male model and offshore worker, had initially offered to pay for Quinn to get a room at the Copthorne hotel in Aberdeen, but it was full.

A trial at the High Court in Glasgow in 2021 heard that Quinn stabbed Mr Geddes 40 times at his flat in the city’s Ruthrieston Crescent.

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In its report on the case, the MWC said that, had accommodation and a support package been arranged on Quinn's release from prison, this is "likely to have reduced the risk to the specific victim who invited him to his home".

However, it noted that even when this had been put in place - as it was in September 2019 - "Mr TU rapidly re-offended, was rearrested and returned to prison".

Nonetheless, it said there were aspects of that Quinn's care including concerns raise by his next of kin - which “if acted on, might have mitigated the risk of violence when he was discharged from inpatient care in June 2018”.

The report makes six recommendations for change in risk management, hospital discharge planning and consent to share information.

There are a further six recommendations for the Scottish Government, including on support for those released from prison, the national mental health workforce strategy and hospital discharge standards.

Alison Thomson, of the Mental Welfare Commission Scotland, said: “The range of our recommendations reflects the complexity of the case.

"We recognise the challenges involved for all of those who provided care and treatment for Mr TU.

“Nevertheless, the investigation found there was learning for clinical services that could improve the care and treatment of those with substance-induced psychosis and mitigate the risk of future violence.”

Scottish Conservative north-east MSP Douglas Lumsden, who has supported the Geddes family, said: “This damning report highlights the cataclysmic failings of Scotland’s justice system and how easy it was for a violent, high-risk offender to be released early with no consideration of the dangers he posed to the public.

“The lack of rigorous assessments in this case has exposed significant gaps in mental health, prison aftercare and supervision.

“Alan was a Good Samaritan who died merely because he stepped in when others had failed.”

A Scottish Prison Service spokesman said its "endeavours to ensure that individuals liberated from custody have appropriate support networks in place to aid their transition back into the community".

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “We will carefully consider this report before responding formally.

"Our thoughts continue to be with the family of the victim of this tragic event.”